New Delhi/Shimla: Five Himalayan states—Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam, and Nagaland—have been named among the top 10 performers under the Watershed Development Projects in India.
This announcement has been made by the Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). However, questions linger about the ground reality of these projects.
The recognition comes with the sanction of 56 new Watershed Development Projects.
These projects, with an estimated cost of ₹700 crores, will be implemented under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Watershed Development Component 2.0 (PMKSY-WDC 2.0).
The other states in the top 10 are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu.
The PMKSY-WDC scheme aims to restore degraded lands, focusing on ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, and pasture development.
These activities are intended to boost groundwater levels, increase surface water availability, and improve crop productivity and farmers' income.
The initiative also claims to strengthen climate resilience and support sustainable natural resource management.
While these claims look promising on paper, the ground situation paints a different picture. For instance, in Himachal Pradesh, several complaints have emerged about the ineffectiveness of these projects.
In the Chopal subdivision of Shimla district, numerous rainwater harvesting tanks built under the scheme lie dry. Despite large investments, these structures fail to serve their intended purpose—harvesting water.
Local residents allege that the tanks and other infrastructure benefit contractors more than farmers.
Paperwork and official records showcase "completed" projects, but the reality often tells a story of negligence and mismanagement.
Many of these structures remain non-functional, with no scientific studies conducted to evaluate their efficacy.
The 2021-22 phase of WDC-PMKSY 2.0 sanctioned 1,150 projects, covering an area of about 50 lakh hectares at a cost of ₹12,303 crores.
Each project was planned to cover around 5,000 hectares, with smaller areas allocated in hill states. However, Shimla district alone highlights numerous instances where promised field impacts are nowhere to be seen.
Despite the central government’s emphasis on visible outcomes and timely recovery of degraded land, the implementation of these projects in many regions seems superficial.
Residents have voiced their concerns repeatedly, pointing to dry tanks, lack of water harvesting, and inefficiencies in execution.
If watershed projects are to achieve their ambitious goals, a serious audit and re-evaluation of their implementation on the ground are needed.
Without this, schemes designed to transform rural livelihoods risk becoming mere exercises in paperwork, serving contractors more than communities.
